Concerns at the beginning of the new school year are resolved

The remaining problems in schools as well as many concerns of parents were fully and satisfactorily answered by teachers, experts and management agencies.

On the morning of September 9, Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper organized a discussion with the theme "New school year with new issues in education ", with the participation of representatives of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City and a number of leaders of high schools, middle schools and primary schools in the city.

Many important tasks

Right after the opening ceremony, schools enter the official weeks of learning, one of the hot issues that educational institutions and parents are concerned about is implementing the 2-session/day program in general schools according to the instructions of the Ministry of Education and Training. The 2-session/day program entails related issues such as arranging timetables as well as implementing other school programs.

The content of the program on the morning of September 9 received the attention and follow-up of many readers. Photo below: Guest speakers discussed further after the program. Photo: HOANG TRIEU

Mr. Nguyen Thai Vinh Nguyen, Deputy Head of the General Education Department, Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training, said that according to the guidance of the Ministry of Education and Training in Official Dispatch 4567 on teaching 2 sessions/day, in reality in Ho Chi Minh City for many years it has been fully implemented at all levels of education.

Accordingly, the first session (morning or afternoon) is set aside for teaching the 2018 General Education Program. The second session is for consolidating and reviewing knowledge and organizing other educational activities such as clubs and socialized activities. The school must ensure full implementation of the 2018 General Education Program, including the prescribed number of periods, along with training a team of qualified teachers.

Speaking more about the tasks of implementing the new school year in the professional field, Mr. Vinh Nguyen said that the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training focuses on implementing many strategic and breakthrough tasks, including key tasks such as continuing to implement the 2018 program well. According to Mr. Nguyen, after the merger, the City Department of Education and Training will also prepare a training and coaching roadmap to synchronize the quality of the teaching staff to implement the program.

Regarding the implementation of Conclusion 91 of the Politburo on gradually making English the second language in schools, Ho Chi Minh City has taken steps to prepare. "Up to now, Ho Chi Minh City has had very diverse English programs. In addition to programs such as enhanced English, English under Project 5695, math - science programs in English, the Department of Education and Training of the City also encourages schools to boldly implement many other types of foreign language enhancement. In addition to English, the task of digital transformation is also of interest to the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City..." - Mr. Nguyen emphasized.

According to Mr. Tran Khac Huy, Head of the Financial Planning Department, Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, after the merger, Ho Chi Minh City will become a super city of education, so education and training is one of the core factors to contribute to building a strong Ho Chi Minh City. To do that, each school and each locality must determine the education and training development strategy, from which to build a suitable roadmap, plan and goals.

One of those goals is to continue expanding investment and building schools and classrooms; regularly reviewing facilities and restrooms to ensure student health; ensuring local educational criteria...

Answering questions about class schedules and fees

Many direct questions were sent to the program from parents. Among them, there was an opinion that currently some educational institutions arrange the Saturday school schedule, causing difficulties for parents. In addition, the weekday schedule is not balanced, making it difficult for parents to pick up and drop off their children.

According to Mr. Nguyen Thai Vinh Nguyen, not all secondary schools currently organize programs on Saturdays. In the case that schools organize educational activities on Saturdays, these are also light educational activities, so parents do not need to worry too much.

However, from a professional management perspective, the City Department of Education and Training encourages schools to try to arrange class schedules from Monday to Friday. If they have to organize classes on Saturday mornings, they must communicate so that parents can understand and support them.

From the reality of educational facilities, Mr. Le Hong Thai, Principal of Phan Van Tri Primary School (Cau Ong Lanh Ward), said that currently most schools implement open education programs, at the primary level, students will leave at 4:00 p.m. However, all schools have clubs and after-school activities, especially sports clubs, parents can consider letting their children join suitable clubs. Thanks to that, parents can balance the time to pick up and drop off if they have children studying at other schools or at different levels, and help their children develop physically and skills at school.

Mr. Nguyen Cong Phuc Khanh, Vice Principal of Tran Van On Secondary School (Tan Dinh Ward), said that in addition to implementing the regulation of no more than 7 periods per day, the school will have an 8th period for students in need, or parents who cannot pick up their children in time. The organization of the 8th period is diverse and flexible, depending on the needs of parents. Or the school always opens the library for students who need to read books, waiting for their parents to pick them up. "Currently, the school's program is very flexible, parents can contribute with the school to find solutions and methods to implement the best education for students" - Mr. Khanh shared.

In response to the opinions of many readers and parents who questioned the mechanism for managing the collection of fees at the beginning of the school year, Mr. Tran Khac Huy said that the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City has issued relevant instructions on the mechanism for collecting and using tuition fees and other fees at educational institutions in the city. At the same time, training will be organized for all educational institutions in 168 wards and communes of Ho Chi Minh City.

Mr. Huy informed that in September, the Department of Education and Training had instructed schools not to collect tuition fees. Regarding service fees, the City People's Council recently issued 9 collection items, each of which has a specific ceiling and floor level. Schools will base on the actual situation at school to establish the corresponding collection level according to regulations. For the other 15 collection items, schools will consult and agree with the parent representative committee, agree and publicize at the beginning of the school year. These collection items must be based on the school's program and organize to consult parents.

"The Department of Education and Training will set up inspection teams to check schools in the implementation of early-year collections," Mr. Huy emphasized.

Many solutions to improve digital literacy education

Faced with the task of educating Vietnamese citizens to become global citizens, experts and teachers at the program suggested many specific solutions.

According to Mr. Huynh Quoc Thang, General Director of Bach Khoa Science and Technology Corporation, in schools or outside of businesses, people are still quite hesitant to pay for certain applied technology activities. The general mentality is that people often want to use free software and applications. To encourage students to love science and technology, schools also need to spend more time on this subject. Some schools are equipped with digital classrooms but do not use them much, while others have a policy of studying a lot but lack facilities. "To improve students' digital capacity, we need more cooperation from schools, families, society and businesses," Mr. Thang raised the issue.

Mr. Le Hong Thai said that with the advantage of being a national standard school, the school has many advantages in organizing educational activities for students, such as participating in sports activities. Particularly with the requirements of foreign languages ​​and artificial intelligence, in the school's view, there must be a thorough preparation process. In fact, the school has organized many training programs, invited experts, and implemented experiments to help teachers get used to it.

Mr. Nguyen Cong Phuc Khanh said that one of the advantages of implementing global citizenship education for students is that the school is interested in, invests in facilities, has a swimming pool for students... The school focuses on students developing physical education and sports, promoting STEM education, and career education. Regarding digital transformation, for many years, the school has organized training sessions for teachers, training on lesson development, building LMS systems, and regularly testing and evaluating on digital platforms so that learners, in addition to direct interaction, can also create interest in learning.

Ms. Ly Thi Hong Tham, Vice Principal of Nguyen Cong Tru High School (Thong Tay Hoi Ward), informed that the school continues to organize English enhancement programs, topics, clubs, and playgrounds to enhance foreign languages, and encourages and creates conditions for students to exchange internationally... At the high school level, students from grade 10 have specific career orientations. "The key to successfully improving digital capacity is greatly influenced by teachers. Teachers proactively equipping students with the ability to apply AI and designing AI lessons will help improve digital capacity more effectively," said Ms. Tham.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/nhung-ban-khoan-dau-nam-hoc-moi-duoc-giai-toa-196250909203710407.htm